Just Pick Somebody

With So Many Holes, Jets Hardly Can Go Wrong in Draft

There is an old debate that restarts annually ahead of the NFL Draft. It applies to just about every team, it features two loaded phrases, and it goes like this: Should a team draft "for need," or should it select "the best player available?"

For example, if it is the Green Bay Packers' turn to pick, and they think a quarterback is the best player on the board, should they take him, even though they have Aaron Rodgers and their secondary needs help?

ENLARGE

Tyler Eifert
Getty Images

The Jets, however, aren't the Green Bay Packers. They don't have to worry about the best-player-available debate this year. In the three months since John Idzik's hiring as general manager, they have shed several key members of their 2012 roster, and the team could stand to upgrade some positions where starters presumably will be back this season.

Do you love football but know next to nothing about the 2013 NFL Draft? Do you even know what the draft is? Here's a beginner's look at this year's NFL Draft from WSJ Sports.

So, on the first day of the NFL draft Thursday, the Jets are likely to fill a positional need no matter whom they draft with their two first-round picks (the ninth- and 13th-overall selections).

Truth be told, Idzik and his staff have a terrific opportunity here. No team has had two top-13 picks the same year since 2000. Theoretically, then, the Jets should be able to find a pair of players who can step into the starting lineup.

Here are three possible selections who—assuming they are still available when the Jets make their first choice—would fit right in:

Tavon Austin, wide receiver (West Virginia)

Austin is a wee thing: He is listed at 5 feet 8 and 173 pounds. He also might be the most dynamic offensive player in the draft. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.34 seconds at the NFL combine, caught 215 passes over his final two collegiate seasons and scored five touchdowns on punt and kickoff returns in his college career.

The Jets already rely on a diminutive receiver: 5-foot-9 Jeremy Kerley, who led them in receptions last season with 56. But Marty Mornhinweg, the Jets' new offensive coordinator, has plenty of experience in devising plays and play-calling sequences that allow small, fast wideouts to get open. He coached 5-foot-10 DeSean Jackson for five years in Philadelphia, and Jackson averaged 55 catches a season and 17.5 yards per catch over that period.

Tyler Eifert, tight end (Notre Dame)

Linebacker Manti Te'o got the lion's share of attention around the Fighting Irish last season (for reasons both good and odd). But on a team without an experienced quarterback, Eifert solidified his status as the best tight-end prospect in college football, catching 50 passes, including four touchdowns.

At 6 feet 6 and 250 pounds, he is the prototype for the big, swift, pass-catching tight end that has become a necessity for an NFL offense, particularly in the West Coast system that Mornhinweg runs. He would also be a natural successor to Dustin Keller, who missed most of last season with an ankle injury and was a favorite target of quarterback Mark Sanchez.

In fact, Mike Mayock, who analyzes the draft for the NFL Network, predicted the Jets will take Eifert with the 13th pick.

"That tells you how strongly I feel about him," said Mayock, who also saw Eifert extensively as NBC's Notre Dame analyst. "His game size and what he does fit today's NFL to a tee."

Jarvis Jones, outside linebacker (Georgia)

Though the Jets ranked eighth in team defense last season, they managed just 30 sacks—25th-best in the league. They lacked the sort of fearsome, pass-rushing defensive end or linebacker who would demand an offense's attention at all times.

Jones could fill that role. He collected 28 sacks over his final two years at Georgia, including 14½ last season, which led the nation and set a school record.

Jones has spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal, a condition that could give pause to those teams drafting in the first half of the first round. But his production in the Southeastern Conference—by far the best conference in college football and the closest thing to NFL-caliber competition—suggests he would be worth the risk for the Jets.

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